Chinese in the Civil War

I got to know one of the social workers at the VA hospital at Augusta (where I go for an annual eval every year). He was of Chinese descent himself and was also interested in the Civil War, and so was pleasantly surprised when I told him that yes, there were Chinese in the Late Unpleasantness. Not many, but but around fifty have been identified. One was John Tommy, who is described in a contemporary account thusly:

Among the killed at Gettysburg was a young Chinaman, known as John Tommy. He was attached to the First Regiment Excelsior brigade, in Capt. Price’s company. John Tommy was the only representative of the Central Flowery Kingdom in the Army of the Potomac, and was wide known both from that circumstances and certain peculiarities of his own. John Tommy came to this country immediately after the breaking out of the war, and was induced to enlist in General Sickle’s brigade, at that time being raised in this city. He was then a mere lad, entirely ignorant of our language. Being bright, smart, and honest, he soon became a favorite at Red Hook, Staten Island, and was at once the butt and the wit of the whole regiment. Before he became located on the Maryland shore of the Potomac opposite Acquia Creek, in one of the reconnoisances on the south side of the river, Tommy was taken prisoner and soon became a lion in the rebel camp. He was brought before General Magruder, who surprised at his appearance and color, asked him was he a mulatto, Indian, or what? When Tommy told him he was from China, Magruder was very much amused, and asked him how much he would take to join the confederate army. ‘Not unless you would make me a brigadier general,’ said Tommy, to the great delight of the secesh officers who treated him very kindly and sent him to Fredericksburg. Here Tommy became a great lion, and his picture was published in the Fredericksburg papers. Subsequently he was sent to the Libby Prison, Richmond, where he met his captain, Benjamin Price, who had been taken prisoner at Williamsburg. After his parole Tommy came to New York city, where he employed his time in attending upon his sick and wounded comrades. He was the kindest of nurses, and spent his little means in providing delicacies for his sick fellow soldiers. In the subsequent engagements at Fredericksburg, Chancellorville, and the last at Gettysburg, John Tommy was one of the bravest soldiers in that bravest, of brigades, the Excelsior. He seemed not to know what fear was, and was the universal favorite of all his fellow-soldiers. He had not been wounded up to Gettysburg, but in Friday’s fight he was struck by a shell which tore off both legs at the thighs, and he shortly bled to death. The company he was in went into the action with twenty-eight men, and lost twenty in kilted and wound. Tommy’s case is peculiar, and he was the only representative of the empire of China in the finest army on the planet.

A recent Armed Forces Press Service release gives a number of other examples, although it points out that “it is tough to pick them out because they often took American names. Another member of the 14th Connecticut Infantry, John Lee, may have been Chinese. Of course, he may have been no more Chinese than the Confederate commander at Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee.”

UPDATE: This is a more popular issue than I realized. There are several web sites on the subject, Gordon Kwok’s is probably the most complete and has a photo of Corporal Joseph Pierce, thought to be the highest-ranking Chinese to serve in the war.